THE STRAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 98, 16 July 1927, Page 16

THE STRAND

BUSTER KEATON COMEDY A pleasant, nonsensical, and diverttng piece of foolery is given to the public in "The General,” Buster Keaton s first big comedy, which attracted a big house to the Strand Theatre last night. Legitimate protest may often be made against the average film comedy which. as a rule, lacks unitv and subtlety, but in "The General” no such cavilling is justified. The foolery has a new agreeable quality which makes immediate appeal. War is generally a grave enough business for all concerned and material for tragic war stories is readily accessible. But how far greater is the gift of being able to turn towards the sun, and see it through the clouds of war. Poor Buster, the driver of an engine, was not permitted to join the southern army when the civil war broke out. Instead of the path of glory, he had to stick to the job of

driving his beloved engine, “The General.” He enlisted for love of a lady, but finally came to greater glory through pursuing the “even tenor of his ways.” The humour of the film is delightfully laconic, and full of the unexpected. Buster Keaton, whose graven face betrays feeling at no time, wins through “The General ” his place in the first rank of film comedians. The love affair of a sprightly senorita and her sailor boy makes interesting the picture “Valencia,” starring Mae Murray. Oh! What troubles these poor, impetuous lovers have, and how steadfast they remain in spite of the assaults of fortune. It is a pleasing, conventional romance. Sports followers will appreciate the pictures of the New Zealand cricketers in England taken especially for the theatre. The opening practice at Lord’s shows the men getting into form. Excellent close-ups of the Middlesex match give a fine idea of the brisk way in which the visitors clipped the bowling about. The orchestral interludes added to the pleasantness of the programme.